The present invention relates generally to fasteners and more particularly to a nut with a cap secured to a nut body.
A nut is one type of fastener that is commonly used to attach various components together. Typically, a nut has at least an internal threaded portion and one or more external bearing surfaces attached thereto. The bearing surfaces are designed to receive torque from a tool, such as a socket or other wrench, which is used to tighten or loosen the nut. For example, in a conventional nut, the nut may have six bearing surfaces oriented in a hexagonal shape around the internal threads. However, it is possible for nuts to have a different number of bearing surfaces as desired.
Aesthetics is one concern for certain nuts, such as automobile wheel nuts. In particular, many automotive consumers are drawn to the aesthetics of an automobile's wheels, since this is often a distinctive part of an automobile. As a result, wheel nuts have become an integral component of the aesthetics of automotive wheels, and automobiles more generally, because wheel nuts form a highly visible pattern around the center of a wheel.
One approach that has been highly successful in addressing wheel nut aesthetics is stainless steel capped wheel nuts. In this solution, a nut insert is capped with a stainless steel covering. Since stainless steel is resistant to corrosion, durable and visually attractive, stainless steel capped wheel nuts have been capable of addressing a large portion of the demand for aesthetically pleasing wheel nuts. Another advantage of stainless steel capped wheel nuts is that the color of stainless steel, a shiny silverish color, generally matches the color used for most automobile wheels. One disadvantage, however, of stainless steel capped wheel nuts is the cost of manufacturing such wheel nuts.
One problem with conventional capped nuts is that the cap can be damaged by rough handling. Such damage may make a capped wheel nut less aesthetically appealing, and thus, may be rejected by a manufacturer or a consumer. Handling damage usually occurs when capped nuts are shipped in bulk containers with hundreds or thousands of capped nuts mixed together in a container. Because the capped nuts are typically in contact with each other during shipping, rough handling of the shipping container can cause the capped nuts to beat against each other and damage each other.
Accordingly, the inventor believes it would be desirable to provide an improved capped nut that is more resistant to damage.